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LBJ & The Great Society

LBJ & The Great Society. LBJ Becomes President. Despite being virtually useless as a v-p, LBJ assumed the control of government quickly and effectively after JFK’s assass. He set out his ideas to continue JFK’s programs in his “Great Society” speech.

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LBJ & The Great Society

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  1. LBJ & The Great Society

  2. LBJ Becomes President • Despite being virtually useless as a v-p, LBJ assumed the control of government quickly and effectively after JFK’s assass. • He set out his ideas to continue JFK’s programs in his “Great Society” speech. • Major Goal: Abundance & freedom for all Ams by • Eradicating poverty • Ending racial injustice

  3. Kazakh Finger Food!

  4. Great Society Programs • LBJ continued the New Frontier idea of the Peace Corps, where Am college grads were trained to help developing countries • Grads spent 2 years abroad creating programs to better education, agriculture, health, industry & technology • LBJ also created the OEO to oversee other programs • Head Start, Upward Bound, Job Corps, & Neighborhood Youth Corps & VISTA all aimed at children and young adults

  5. Major Legislative Efforts • ’64-66, LBJ sent # of bills to Congress to create Great Society- focused on health & education • Dept of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) was created to oversee low-income housing • National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) offered grants to artists & the National Endowment for the Humanities gave grants to scholars • The Elementary & Secondary Ed Act (ESEA) was passed giving more $$ to schools • Higher Ed Act was passed giving financial aid for college • Medicare & Medicaid were est’d to provide health care for the elderly & disadvantaged

  6. Office of Econ Opportunity • The OEO was a large federal agency that was designed to oversee and guide various programs. • The OEO was the centerpiece of LBJ’s “War on Poverty” & was in charge of Head Start, Job Corps, & VISTA. • It’s budget was eventually 1.8 billion, but eventually many of its programs were assigned to other agencies- Head Start to Dept of Ed; Job Corps to Dept of Labor • By ’73, it was out of business

  7. Federal Food Assistance • The purpose of the program is to make sure that all Ams can receive a minimum diet of nutritionally balanced foods • JFK re-instituted the Fed Food Assistance Program (aka Food Stamps), but under LBJ it was expanded and made permanent (‘64) • 1st year it was made permanent it helped 500K, by ’70, it was at 4 mill, & by ’75, it was at 15 mill • Currently, FFA is called SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) • 76% of SNAP households included a child, an elderly person, or a disabled person. These vulnerable households receive 83% of all SNAP benefits

  8. Legal Aid • Legal Services (now Legal Aid) program was designed to help poor & disadvantaged with civil legal services. • The Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) administered the program & it also aimed to change laws which were unfair to their clients. • Make laws simpler & more accessible to the poor • Fight laws that punished the poor • By the late ’90s, this program had est’d 260 local programs and helped more than 4 mill/year

  9. The Job Corps • Job Corpswas a program also overseen by the OEO- it’s goal was to train disadvantaged youth b/t 16-24 • Job Corps est’d training centers all over the country. • Enrollees received tech training, learned social skills, & when necessary, basic educational skills(reading & writing) • In ’67, JC operated 123 centers- helping 42K, since then almost 2 mill have been helped by JC

  10. Head Start • Head Start was an educational program for poor & disadvantaged children • Main goal was to improve school performance • They enrolled poor & disadvantaged children in pre-kindergarten programs • Provided hot meals & immunizations for children • In its first year, it helped 500K. • By late ’90s, +800K • Since it’s beginning, +17 mill kids have been helped

  11. VISTA • VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) was a domestic version of the Peace Corps. • VISTA workers lived and worked in poverty-stricken areas throughout the US to improve living standards. • After 6 weeks of training, college grads taught English, office skills, set up food co-ops, gave legal advice, & set up youth clubs • Eventually, VISTA was incorporated into Clinton’s AmeriCorps program- increasing its budget & popularity- by 2006, +200K Ams had volunteered in this program

  12. the Great Society’s legacy • Millions of Ams’ hopes were raised at the ideas being presented (racial equality, econ prosperity) • LBJ’s programs meant a tremendous amount of fed $$ at a time when the US was spending increasing amounts of $$ in Vietnam • (2 billion for War on Poverty; 22 billion for War in Vietnam) • W/i 2 years, the $$ needed for the programs had dried up • Despite cutbacks, many of the programs cont’d and are still seen today.

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